‘Joyriding’ technician arrested

A technician at a Mercedes-Benz dealership in the United States has been charged with theft after allegedly driving a customer’s car to a bar for a Friday night date.

Kimberly Porter, the owner of a Mercedes-Benz C300 AMG, had booked her vehicle in for work at a business in Collierville, Tennessee. 

However, she was surprised about a month later when she received a phone alert one night suggesting her car was on the move.

Porter thought somebody had stolen it from the dealership and headed to the bar where it had been parked, she told Memphis TV station, WREG.

She then called police and Derrick Nguyen, a technician at Mercedes-Benz of Collierville, was arrested. He told officers he had permission to drive the car but this was refuted by a service manager spoken to by police, reports Automotive News. 

Court records also reportedly described Nguyen, who took the C300 out for more than five hours, as intoxicated when he was arrested.

“I take my car to the dealership because I trust the dealership,” Porter told WREG. “This is where I’m at, at 1 o’clock in the morning. I’m sitting outside TJ Mulligan’s because he’s outside joyriding on a date with somebody else in my car.” 

Her lawyer has also accused the dealership of attempting to profit from the situation, reports Automotive News. A Facebook post by the company offered free routine maintenance or money off a vehicle purchase for the first 10 customers who visited the showroom and showed a copy of a post about the story.

“Everyone’s talking ... Let’s make it worth your while,” read the dealership’s post, which has since been deleted. “No drama. No headlines. Just exceptional deals.”

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